Date: May 31, 2019
Time: Zero Dark 30
Location: Clear Lake
Air Temp: 65-80
Water Temp: in the 70’s
Seasonal Fish Pattern: Post spawn and spawn
Wind: light and variable 3-5
Water Clarity: 3-5
I finally caught up with 20 year old Christian Ostrander, one of the youngest and most avid competitive bass fisherman I know. Being a big fan of his, I was excited to finally talk to him, about his last two events, though his 2019 season has been phenomenal. Here is his outing, at the Wild West Bass Tournaments, Lucas Oil Championship Pro-Am Clear Lake.
With Christian at the helm, they launched out of Redbud Park on his pre-fish and moved around a lot and fished from the South end of the lake all the way to State Park, even went into Rattlesnake to graph and look around. They had been marking and catching fish intermittently at 16-25 feet, so they targeted this depth for the next three days. After practice was over they had a pretty good game and after Day 1 launch, they found themselves, at their starting spot, near the Konocti Harbor Inn and to his surprise they found nothing. They quickly moved on to their next stop, which was near Rattlesnake, and on a ¾ oz John’s Jig he picked up a 7 pounder at 20 feet. At about 9 am, they found a bedded bass and sat 1 ½ hours on it in 5-6 feet of water but he couldn’t get it to bite. So what do you do, stay and play or move on, time is ticking! He moved on.
He quickly got back on pad and moved up to the State Park area and fished offshore on rock piles. Immediately they caught a 5+ pounder, in about 15 feet of water. They threw jigs and underspins and made some culls throughout the morning. In the last hour, they made a stop on the way back to weigh in and with minutes left Christian hooks up a 4+ pounder on a jig. They cull a fish and beat feet back to weigh in, with only a minutes left. Cut it close but was worth it. He had about 24 pounds and sat in 2nd Place.
Day 2 they found themselves repeating the first day and fished offshore to start and for 2 ½ hours they threw various top water baits around the Soda Bay area, with not much results. They made a change and went to the tules and found a 3+ on a bed and snatched him. The next fish came on a frog over the grass and it was a 4+ pounder. Now things are starting to happen. Between Senko’s, Jigs and Frogging Christian finished Day 2 with about 16 pounds, for a 2 day total of 40 pounds. Made the cut for day 3. It’s impressive on how he rebounds in making the right decisions.
Day 3 they fish shallow, Tule points, same gear Jigs, Underspins and Senko’s. He fished Senko’s way back into the tules and picked up a nice 5+ pounder in one of the pockets, then punched a 3+ pounder and another 4+ pounder. With time running out they ran back to Redbud for one last stop, which proved to be wildly successful, in picking up a 4.25 pounder, on a frog. Making a quick cull and run back to weigh in he found himself, on the Hot Seat, having weighed in 20+ pounds for a 3 day total of 60.03 pounds and only one angler left to weigh in. Nick Salvucci came to the scale with his weight and the pressure showed on their faces. Nick ended up with 60.95 pounds for the win, only out doing Christian by less than a pound. Being the great sportsman and angler that he is, Christian gave up the hot seat with handshakes and a pat on the back to Nick for the win. It was one of the most exciting weigh ins to watch that I have seen in a long time.
I’m a big fan of Christian’s and you should be too. The potential of this young man is huge, and I believe you will be watching him, in the FLW, at some point in his career. Stay tuned for article #2 with Christian as he and his partner Ronnie Heil, and they tackle the BBT Team Motherlode together, on the Delta, June 22, 2019. Congratulations Christian Ostrander, one hell of a job buddy!
RB Bass Angler, Mike Rogers